JMP wrote:The bigger question is pass rush: do we have enough to hide the mistakes that the young DBs will inevitably make? I'm not sold at all on the pass rush, so I guess we'll see.

Inherently bad the last couple of years. The Pass Rush lost some steps when we let Vernon go. I would have much rather paid Vernon then Suh, But that's that! The debate on who starts in the secondary is really a question the coaches should first answer as to what they initially want to do on defense. Identify the scheme. Identify how the attack fits the personnel. Jones is the only lock to start IMHO, but he is limited in coverage. He is a downhill attacker that makes plays. In coverage he could be better but his overall ability solidifies his position.

Fitzpatrick should start no matter what. He is a very instinctive FS, but has the uncanny ability to move like a corner. With that ability and his size he would certainly be at an advantage across TE's. Put McDonald in at FS on multiple receiver sets. If the pass rush gets better push, i think Miami moves away from the zone coverage schemes on passing downs.

In my estimation, all Fitzpatrick should have to do is beat out our current best free safety.

Since we don't have anyone that actually is a free safety, he starts Day 1.

We're not winning more than 6 games this season anyway, so might as well start getting guys reps. This is something a good front office would realize (Gase is a lame-duck at this point), and start figuring out ways to save their own jobs if possible. It's a long shot at best, but better than just waiting to get fired.

Absolutely Degarmo, Fitzpatrick should be a no brainer. At #11, He should already be penciled in as the starter. Barring injury, that is the starting FS.

Whether this is make or break for Gase is on Ross. But if everything falls and we go 6-10 again Miami needs to have a fire sale. I'm talking get rid of everything, the calculators, the chairs, the staplers, I mean everthing gotta go kinda shit. We cant have past regimes sticking around and carrying on the previous regimes bags.

while we're talking about the owner and his talent acquisition abilities.

The Dolphins have an expansive and thorough team of scouts, and owner Stephen Ross might have been part of that operation this year.

Ross thought highly of Michigan linebacker Mike McCray and that couldn’t have hurt when McCray was looking for a team after going undrafted. It’s always nice for a job applicant when the owner of the company went to the same school, and Ross is one of Michigan’s most notable alums.

“It’s that Michigan connection,” McCray said this afternoon. “We’ve all got that certain connection.”

McCray is one of 21 players in town this weekend for rookie minicamp, but it’s likely few — if any — of his peers got a phone call from Ross after they landed with the Dolphins.

Ross remains highly attached to the football program, and McCray said they’d met multiple times while he was in college.

Here's another head scratcher for you. If McCray actually makes the squad, He'll probably only contribute on Special Teams. If Baker, as it probably will be, makes the team HE will make a solid contribution to Special Teams. The head scratcher would be, why would we use a 3rd when we could have gotten the same thing for nothing?

Umix10 wrote:Here's another head scratcher for you. If McCray actually makes the squad, He'll probably only contribute on Special Teams. If Baker, as it probably will be, makes the team HE will make a solid contribution to Special Teams. The head scratcher would be, why would we use a 3rd when we could have gotten the same thing for nothing?

Using a top-75 pick on a role player is not smart football. If you watched the draft, there were guys with Baker's skillset drafted in rounds 4 - 7 - some of them much better players, like Shaq Griifin (who Mayock projected as a 5th or 6th rounder, which is where Baker should have gone IMO). Baker is basically a nickle linebacker and special teamer, and those guys can be found later in the draft every single year. Sure, he's fast and athletic...and so is almost every college LB, other than the two-down thumpers. College football is overflowing with small, fast, athletic LBs these days. Most of them are done with football after college, because they only project as role players at the NFL level.